Another review of a Gold Coast restaurant review. On the night before we head back to Sydney, all tired and wondering what do we do. Tired from the walking, travelling and random eating out. Confused over what I want to eat. Options range from Italian, Indian, Chinese, etc. A careful strategy of eliminating what we have already had leads us to shortlisting Thai. As we head from our hotel and walking in Surfers Paradise Boulevard, I finally take a call. Chiangmai Thai it is. Its a bit if walk, away from the Boulevard away from the Hard Rock Cafe. Its close to 8:30 and being a weekday, a bit quiet. The Chiangmai Thai is located in the Mantra hotel. There is an amusement park next to it with neon lights and crazy rides. As we enter the hotel and walk towards the restaurant we pass the gym and the pool till we reach the reception. At this moment I got to tell you what I saw. Dim lighting, open air seating with authentic Thai huts and a small walkway towards the covered area of the restaurant with a reception. The reception again has a big Buddha golden picture and focus lighting. The walls are purple and the women draped in silken Thai dresses. The whole first look feel is so exotic and overwhelming. Its as if we are in Thailand and not in Australia. You normally go to a place you read about with a preconceived image in your mind. Upon reaching either you are disappointed or overwhelmed. In this case, I was overwhelmed big time Thai. May be it was too stereotyped image of Thailand. But awesome ambience.
We got an option to sit inside, but I chose outside. The outside open air seating had lush garden and green surroundings with either Thai huts in the form of carriages or simple round table seating. The chairs in the round tables were heavy with elephant faces made. The place looked too exotic and hence expensive. But if I tell you it wasn't, would you believe it.
The food. We ordered two dishes, the red curry chicken and the pring kat phat or something which was basically the king prawns in a chilli relish and rice. The food was served quite quickly initially. To be honest I was quite pleasantly surprised. Too fast a service.
They served the king prawns first followed by the red curry. The garnishing and presentation was exquisite. Just too good. The taste. The king prawns had little bit of a paste or gravy. Quite tasty- tangy and spicy. The prawns cooked about OK. I'm not sure if you are aware but if you cook prawns, the time to cook makes a difference to the texture of the prawns. Too much cooking renders it hard and chewy. Too light leaves it gooey. For me if I were to have prawns, the perfect cooking would be a little creamy and not fully cooked. It goes well with curries. Well, after that course into prawns and their cooking, coming back to this dish, the prawns were a bit more than the optimal level of cooking but I loved it. The lemon grass, tamarind and chilli. We started with the sticky rice. Next came the red curry in chicken. About perfect and amazing. Good consistency, perfect blend,amazing taste again. The serving size was quite good and substantial. I tell you, both the dishes hit the spot.
The only issue was the service. If you sit outside, they don't come too frequent to look out for your requirements. At times, you keep looking at waiters if they will make eye contact but they don't. At one instance I had to get up and go to the counter to ask for rice and water. It did put me off a bit but what the hell. The food and ambience was amazing.
Let me tell you by means of comparison how good this place was. At one point of time, I regretted why I was in Sydney and not in Gold Coast. I wished I was in Gold Coast so that I could eat here. In comparison to Sydney, the two best Thai restaurants are Chat Thai and Thai Pothong. This was better any day- Chiangmai Thai. So much to the extent, that the next day I wanted to come for lunch.
Food was not at all expensive. Two dishes and rice cost me AUD 58. The P/Fring Prawns was $26 nd the red curry for $21.90.
Accepts EFTPOS.
Crown Towers Resort
(Opposite Bungie Jump)
5-19 Palm Avenue
Surfers PAradise QLD 4217
Ph: 07 55268891
Chiangmai Thai also has branches at
Broadbeach, 2779 Gold Coast Highway, Broadbeach QLD 4218 Ph: 07 55382144
Sierra Grand Resort, Opposite Pacific Fair, Shop 1-2/2643 Gold Coast Hwy,Broadbeach QLD 4218 Ph: 07 5527 5511
We got an option to sit inside, but I chose outside. The outside open air seating had lush garden and green surroundings with either Thai huts in the form of carriages or simple round table seating. The chairs in the round tables were heavy with elephant faces made. The place looked too exotic and hence expensive. But if I tell you it wasn't, would you believe it.
The food. We ordered two dishes, the red curry chicken and the pring kat phat or something which was basically the king prawns in a chilli relish and rice. The food was served quite quickly initially. To be honest I was quite pleasantly surprised. Too fast a service.
They served the king prawns first followed by the red curry. The garnishing and presentation was exquisite. Just too good. The taste. The king prawns had little bit of a paste or gravy. Quite tasty- tangy and spicy. The prawns cooked about OK. I'm not sure if you are aware but if you cook prawns, the time to cook makes a difference to the texture of the prawns. Too much cooking renders it hard and chewy. Too light leaves it gooey. For me if I were to have prawns, the perfect cooking would be a little creamy and not fully cooked. It goes well with curries. Well, after that course into prawns and their cooking, coming back to this dish, the prawns were a bit more than the optimal level of cooking but I loved it. The lemon grass, tamarind and chilli. We started with the sticky rice. Next came the red curry in chicken. About perfect and amazing. Good consistency, perfect blend,amazing taste again. The serving size was quite good and substantial. I tell you, both the dishes hit the spot.
The only issue was the service. If you sit outside, they don't come too frequent to look out for your requirements. At times, you keep looking at waiters if they will make eye contact but they don't. At one instance I had to get up and go to the counter to ask for rice and water. It did put me off a bit but what the hell. The food and ambience was amazing.
Let me tell you by means of comparison how good this place was. At one point of time, I regretted why I was in Sydney and not in Gold Coast. I wished I was in Gold Coast so that I could eat here. In comparison to Sydney, the two best Thai restaurants are Chat Thai and Thai Pothong. This was better any day- Chiangmai Thai. So much to the extent, that the next day I wanted to come for lunch.
Food was not at all expensive. Two dishes and rice cost me AUD 58. The P/Fring Prawns was $26 nd the red curry for $21.90.
Accepts EFTPOS.
Crown Towers Resort
(Opposite Bungie Jump)
5-19 Palm Avenue
Surfers PAradise QLD 4217
Ph: 07 55268891
Chiangmai Thai also has branches at
Broadbeach, 2779 Gold Coast Highway, Broadbeach QLD 4218 Ph: 07 55382144
Sierra Grand Resort, Opposite Pacific Fair, Shop 1-2/2643 Gold Coast Hwy,Broadbeach QLD 4218 Ph: 07 5527 5511
Looks fantastic!
ReplyDeleteCheers from Germany
why isn't there a follow link on this foodie blog of yours?
ReplyDeleteits there now...:-)
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